Good morning! Today we have for you:
What am I making for dinner? Chicken enchiladas.
A stranger caught me peering into her shopping cart last week. The more I tried to explain that I was doing a little field research because food is my business, the more I sounded like a weirdo. The incident called to mind my friend Marion Cunningham. She was a tall, warm California homemaker who spent years as James Beard’s assistant and then revised “The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.” She is probably best known for “The Breakfast Book,” which gave her a royalty check so big she bought a Jaguar. I am telling you this because she became a cooking teacher devoted to the notion that everyone can cook, even if it’s just pancakes. She often said her best students were the ones who thought “toss apples in a bowl” meant standing back from the counter and throwing the apples. She approached strangers at grocery stores to ask what they were buying and how they planned to use it. Now, I am not suggesting we just start talking to strangers about their groceries. But we should ask our friends more food questions. “What are you making for dinner?” is a good start. Maybe find out if they have an aspirational cooking project or what’s the biggest mistake they have on their pantry shelf. (Mine is a jar of pickled blueberries.) “But Kim,” you might be thinking, “what about some recipes?” Glad you asked! Marion had a decent recipe for chicken enchiladas with green sauce in the Fannie Farmer book. I like a good green chile sauce as much as the next guy, but I’m partial to Rick Martínez’s chicken enchiladas with their canned red enchilada sauce because they taste like my mom’s. She didn’t add jalapeño to the filling, or raw onion, both of which I suggest. It’s a good meal for sharing this Sunday while you ask some questions. Featured Recipe Chicken EnchiladasMondayIn keeping with my spirit of inquiry, a fan of the Cooking newsletter named Robert wrote in and mentioned he spends part of his time in Ghana. We got talking about groundnut soup, as one does, and it brought to mind my colleague Yewande Komolafe’s spicy peanut and pumpkin soup, which is a habanero-infused version of the West African dish. That’s Monday (with leftovers for the next day’s lunch).
TuesdayDeclare it Brassica Night (what kindergartner wouldn’t be thrilled!) and build a lemony kale and brussels sprouts salad with pear and halloumi from Yossy Arefi. The stars are crispy chunks of fried halloumi and, in her fall debut, the pear.
WednesdayHear me out: Ali Slagle’s make-ahead breakfast sandwiches. It takes some oven time to cook the bacon and the sheet of barely firm eggs that you will cut into squares, but once you have all that set, you can assemble a dozen in no time. Wrap them in foil, put them in the fridge, and everyone has breakfast on their way out the door.
ThursdayYou know how some recipes claim they can be done in 20 minutes and 45 minutes later you are questioning everything you knew to be true? Judy Kim’s chile-oil noodles with cilantro is not that recipe. It really does take 20 minutes or less. How long does it take to chop a half cup of scallions and cilantro, right? The rest is boiling and mixing and being grateful it’s Thursday.
FridayAs part of my main reporting job here, I talk to a lot of people about trends. I asked one smart food analyst if pumpkin spice will ever be knocked from its autumn throne. Sadly, the answer was no. But she’s betting on the endlessly adaptable apple giving it a run for the money. So do your part. Make Yossy’s apple crumb cake. It’s so nice warm, but also lovely to have on the counter for weekend snacking.
Now it’s a long way from newsprint and ham timbales, but Guy Fieri got swindled out of 24,000 bottles of tequila — I love the way “60 Minutes” tells this story. And Thomas Pynchon’s latest speaks to our collective cooking souls with “Shadow Ticket,” which is set in Wisconsin and centers on a cheese heiress. Dwight Garner, my smart brother who loves both food and words, calls it Western literature’s Great Cheese Novel, even though it’s not his best. You can find many, many more recipes at New York Times Cooking. If you want help with your account, I’m the last person you should ask. The fine people at cookingcare@nytimes.com would be a much better option. Me? I’m at severson@nytimes.com. See you next Sunday. For a limited time, you can enjoy free access to the recipes in this newsletter in our app. Download it on your iOS or Android device and create a free account to get started.
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